India has inked a U.S. dollar 1100 million IBRD Direct Lending pact with the World Bank for phase two of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.
The guarantee agreement was inked by the country director of the World Bank, Onno Ruhl and Tarun Bajaj, Joint Secretary (MI) in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
The objective of the EDFC-II Project is to augment rail transport capacity, improve service quality and enhance freight carriage throughout on the 393 km Kanpur-Mughal Sarai secton of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor; and develop institutional capacity of DFCCIL to build, maintain and operate the entire DFC network, an official release said.
This project is in continuation to the Phase-I of the EDFC Project presently being implemented by the DFCCIL with the World Bank loan of USD 975 million on the Khurja-Kanpur stretch of the Eastern rail corridor (Ludhiana-Delhi-Kolkata).
The project will directly benefit the power and heavy manufacturing industries of northern and eastern India, which rely on railway network for transportation of their material inputs and also for the distribution of bulk processed and semi-processed commodities and consumer goods.
Railway passengers will also be benefitted through decongestion of the existing passenger lines.
